Groups challenge plans in Santa Ana Mountains

TRABUCO CANYON A group of canyon-activist and environmental groups have sued Orange County and county leaders over a 65-home development in the Santa Ana Mountains that they say will increase traffic, change the area's character and impact wildlife.

In their suit filed in Superior Court on Oct. 31, the groups seek to overturn a recent decision by the Orange County Board of Supervisors that approved a development known as Saddle Crest. The supervisors' unanimous decision on Oct. 2 allows for changes to the area's general plan and the Foothill Trabuco specific plan.

To clear the way for the development, activists say supervisors also repealed longstanding rules protecting Trabuco Canyon's rural character and scenic natural resources. They cite the 1991-established Foothill Trabuco specific plan, which limited bulldozing of hillsides and canyons and protected mature oak trees such as those overhanging scenic Live Oak Canyon Road.

The suit seeks to overturn the decision and amendments made by Rutter Development that canyon groups say will raise traffic limits along Santiago Canyon Road and remove the requirement of developments to be “rural in character.” They also hope to stop supervisors from approving projects countywide when they do not comply with all provisions of the general plan or applicable specific plan.

The suit alleges that these amendments violate state planning laws mandating consistency between general and specific plans, and that the project's environmental impact report violates the California Environmental Quality Act by failing to disclose the project's impacts on traffic and the environment and the likely effects of the specific plan and general plan amendments outside the Saddle Crest boundaries.

Other plaintiffs include the Saddleback Canyons Conservancy, Friends of Harbors, Beaches & Parks and the National Audubon Society.

Third District Supervisor Bill Campbell, who serves the canyon communities, said he hadn't seen the lawsuit yet. Nonetheless, he said, he and his board members made the right decision approving the development.

Campbell pointed to a suit by canyon activists in 2005 that opposed a much larger Saddle Crest development.

The current development is part of a 162-home development approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2003. At that time, Rutter planned to develop a 304-acre Saddle Crest North and a 836-acre Saddle Crest South.

A coalition of conservationists groups such as the Endangered Habitats League, the Sierra Club, Sea & Sage Audubon, the California Oak Foundation, the California Native Plant Society and the Rural Canyons Conservation Fund opposed the development and filed a lawsuit with the state Court of Appeal in 2005. The court threw out the development. The Saddle Creek North land was transferred into a conservation fund in 2008, and the Saddle Crest South land was transferred to OCTA for conservation purposes under the freeway mitigation program in 2011.

“The property owner sold off some of that and is now doing what the court told him to do,” Campbell said, referring to the much smaller development. “That's kind of what he did. Our staff was appropriate in approving this. I believe we did the right thing.”

Dave Eadie, CEO of Rutter Development, agreed and said the projects documentation and analysis was thorough.

Eadie said the next steps include responding to the lawsuit and then seeing where that process takes them.

Rich Gomez, co-founder of the Saddleback Canyons Conservancy, said his and the other groups have presented a fair and reasonable case. Furthermore, he said that his group has never been opposed to development that falls in line with the area plans.

“It the developer built in accordance with the specific plan with houses on 1-acre lots, it would be a gorgeous rural environment. Instead it's more cost-effective to build tract homes.”

The Board of Supervisors approved the plan by Rutter to put the homes on a 113-acre parcel of unincorporated Orange County full of rugged terrain, oak woodlands, diverse vegetation and scenic vistas. The site is north of the Live Oak Canyon and El Toro Road intersection and east of Santiago Canyon Road. It's adjacent to the Santiago Canyon Estates and between Limestone-Whiting Wilderness Park and Cleveland National Forest.

Canyon conservationists turned in a petition with more than 2,000 signatures to the board during the Oct. 2 hearing. More than 20 people, representing environmental groups, also spoke out at the supervisor's meeting. The opposition groups say the approval affects the entire area, including east Orange, Coto de Caza and Silverado-Modjeska. It will allow for the removal of 151 healthy oak trees and have a possible lasting effect on builders targeting the area.

What has people most concerned is the scope of the change, said Gomez.

“This is the potential undoing of the specific plan,” he said, adding he's been contacted by groups in Coto de Caza and North Tustin who share the concern.

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